Rain - February 9, 2024

It is a yucky, rainy day at my house.  Not cold - almost 60 - just gray and drizzly.  

I just walked two more Valentine cards to the mailbox.  Still have two to go.  Last night I tried to do a card with pop-up flowers - another video tutorial.  This required cutting and assembling 7 flowers and then gluing them together at their tips so that they pop out when the card is opened.  I assembled my seven flowers and clamped them together with a binder clip.  Evidently, the binder clip squeezed out some glue.  My flower assemblage is stuck together, flat as a pancake, this morning.  

Back to the cutting machine.

I need different glue. :-/  

* * * * * * * * 

There was a news story on NPR a few days ago about a new tomato (or at least new tomato seeds) about to come on the market.  It is purple, genetically modified - crossed with a snapdragon - to increase the lycopene in the fruit.  In the pictures, it is VERY dark purple.  It's a cherry tomato.  I ordered some seeds a couple of days ago.  10 seeds for $20. 

At that price, they'd better be good.

Sidetracked and P*ssed - February 8, 2024

Grrrrrr.  

About those Valentine cards for my grandchildren . . . . 

Last night after dinner I sat down to paint the remaining three cards.  As I had already shot my best ideas on the ones I'd already made, I went to YouTube to steal somebody else's ideas.  ;)  This was a mistake.  

I saw "pop-up" cards.

There was this really cute one that opens up to a planter full of grass with tulip-like hearts mingled in.  

Now, I had a brief love affair with pop-up cards a year or two ago.  It lasted long enough for me to acquire a stash of paper and other supplies - scissors that cut pretty borders, all kinds of tape and glue, embossing powder, ya-da ya-da - and it all survived last year's craft room purge.  So when I saw the heart-y pop-up card video, I thought, I can make that, and I stopped the video, went to the cra - er, studio - and dug it all out.

In the stash was a stack of glitter cardstock in colors that my granddaughters love.  It nearly took my breath away.  What pretty cards it would it make!  So I go back to the video and learned that each card required cutting FORTY-FIVE tiny (1/2") hearts, which would be glued together in groups of 3 to make the heart-flowers.  45 x 3 = 135 tiny hearts.  No way.

But ... 

There's a cutting machine in the studio.  I hadn't used it for a long time.  The cutting mats aren't very sticky anymore, but there's one good-ish one that would do.  And the machine even had a pre-designed, perfect heart shape that I could re-size and duplicate 135 times.  I wasn't sure the cutting machine could handle that glittery cardstock, so I cut out 135+ hearts out of plain cardstock, pink and red, and glued 45 of them together in groups of 3- enough to do one card.  

I finished that one card before I went to bed.  Let's just say it was not as pretty as the one in the video.  I should've done the hearts on thinner paper, I think.  

So this morning I got busy trying to re-vamp the video project to suit the supplies I have on hand.  I really, really wanted to include the glitter cardstock somehow, so I decided to test it in the cutting machine.  It is thick, and gritty, and I knew it would dull the blade, but I knew I had spare blades, so I went for it.  I cut 3 glittery blue butterflies - small, medium, and large - had my blade set to 6, 0 pressure - and they came out pretty good, with just a tiny bit of snagging.  So I cut another set of butterflies in pink.  They, too, came out snagged but good enough to use.  So then I tried some green ones, and this time I flipped the cardstock over so that the glittery side was down.  BIG MISTAKE.  My mat was already not very sticky, and the cardstock shifted when the cutting started.  I stopped it right quick, flipped the green over, and started over.  It cut half of the first butterfly, and then just started moving across the page, cutting nothing.  

The blade *shaft* had broken.  The cutting tip fell off, but the shaft did not fall out.  I made several attempts to pry it out, knock it out, dig it out, but no luck.  I gave up and ordered a new blade holder (and a new blade for a spare).  

Well, that shoots the pop-up card idea.  

But I had that one I made last night, and though it was not very professional-looking, I put it in the mail to Granddaughter #1, away at college, and went back to looking for ideas for the other two cards.  (One is for the LRB, the other for The Grandson).  

Overload.

Paralysis!

I gave up for a bit and went back to try again to get the blade shaft out of the cutting machine blade holder.  And this time I did it.  Took it apart from the top, where I don't think it's *really* supposed to come apart.  If you squeeze it just right, though, the top cap can be eased off without breaking the little nubs that hold it on.  There's a magnet inside.  It was easy to get out with a little screwdriver, but a bitch to get back in (wouldn't turn loose of the screwdriver - had to use a skewer).  When I put it back together, the depth dial wouldn't turn, but I took it apart and reassembled it, and it worked and fine cutting out a Valentine card I downloaded from somewhere.  

So, yay for the blade-holder.  :)

Not so yay for the card it cut out.  I made a mess gluing it together.

What the heck.  She's THREE.

Office Day - February 7, 2024

Whew, I'm glad that's over with.

It's not that I dislike the people I work with - they are a great bunch of folks.  

I just prefer to be in my cocoon.  

I'm pupating. 

Pupative.

(The spell checker says that's not a real word.  I beg to differ.)

Tomorrow, I'm going to paint Valentine cards for my grandchildren.  I've already done a couple - two down, three to go.  Friday I am going to mail them.  

I even have postage stamps.

I think.

Heebie-Jeebies - February 6, 2024

This is a rare p.m. post.  I was too lazy to do it any earlier.  Too lazy to do most anything, in fact.

Woke up at 4:30 this morning and read until The Husband got up at 6 and turned on the TV.  The book is about portraits of Benjamin Franklin and the people who painted them, and it is surprisingly interesting.  It's a real book, too; you'd have to lick your finger to swipe these pages.  

Cooked breakfast.

Thought about doing a load of laundry, but . . . nah.

Wrote a proclamation (for work).

Read my work email.

Thought about going to painting class, but wasn't sure if they were having it.  The teacher has been sick, and classmates have had surgeries, trips, deaths in the family, and such.  One of the ladies has been opening up the studio on Tuesday, but she didn't text us that she would do that today, so I just assumed we weren't having class.  At 10:30 the teacher texted that she was there, but by that time my mind was on other things.  

Around noon, Son #2 called to ask if I could pick up Granddaughter #2 from track team tryouts at 5:30.  I said sure.  I was still in my housecoat and hadn't had a shower since Sunday morning.  

Eventually, I got up and showered and put on some actual clothes.  Went to the grocery store.  Picked up the kid, bought her some supper, and took her home.  Came home and made some muffins for breakfast this week.

Tomorrow is office day.  

Yay.

Road Trip - February 5, 2024

We are back from a weekend trip, halfway across the state, to watch Granddaughter #1 ride in a horsemanship competition.  We bravely drove the "new" Jeep we bought at the auction.  The Husband took it to a mechanic last week to have some new wheel sensors installed, and all the "uh-oh" lights on the dashboard went off, so we decided to chance it.  It did fine.  That hemi engine burns a lot of gas, though.

Granddaughter #1 won two ribbons - 5th and 6th place - in a western event.  The judges critique both the rider's posture/form/dress as well as his/her ability to control the horse.  The contestants are riding horses that are not familiar, and some of the horses can get a little cantankerous.  Granddaughter's horse in Saturday's's event was the plodding-est beast in the world - reminded me of Eyore - and he did NOT want to jog or back up.  She finally got him to do what she wanted him to do, but it took some work.  Sunday's horse acted better.  But there were a couple of other horses that got "fired" from the event for acting up.  I guess by Sunday they'd had enough.

This morning, I am sitting here on the porch, drinking coffee and listening to the birds as I test my new battery.  It came Friday, but I was doing laundry and drawing #*!@ bluebirds and didn't want to fool with the battery that day.  But there it was - it and all the road-trip accoutrements - piled up on the kitchen table this morning.  I cleaned off the table and got my screwdriver.  For a minute, I thought they'd shipped (or else I'd ordered) the wrong battery.  It looked w-a-y longer than I remembered, but it fit.  I probably haven't given it a fair chance to show its stuff, as I only let it charge to 50% before I pulled the plug and brought the laptop to the porch.  There's an extension cord right under my table that I put out here just for the laptop, but I don't think the laptop likes it and I suspect it might be the reason why the old battery gave out so soon.  When the battery poops out, or I get too cold, I'll take it inside and juice it up good.  

And then dooooooo...what?

I need to work on the bluebird.  The intended recipient of the future masterpiece is 92 years old; I should not fiddle with this too long.  The trouble is that I can't decide how to do it.  I've tried watercolor, colored pencils, and pen & ink, and have yet to produce something worthy of gifting.  And you want to hear what's worse?  The intended recipient is the mother of a professional artist and former art teacher.  How's that for pressure?

I took my art supplies with me on the road trip and did the birds in colored pencil.  They need a little more work, but they'll do.  If I don't screw it up trying to do a background, this may be my final version. 

* * * * * * * *  

The battery says it's good for another 3 hours, but I'm cold, and should be painting.

* * * * * * * * 

P.S. - Just to let you know . . . .  I did it.  I finished the bluebirds.  Ta-daaa.

Groundhog Day - Friday, February 2, 2024

Phil the Groundhog (from the town whose name no one can spell) did not see his shadow this morning.  I hope our resident groundhog keeps his butt in his burrow this morning, for I am D-O-N-E with winter, and the sun is shining here.

Yesterday after talking to my sister about bird paintings, I painted a pair of bluebirds with watercolors.  As with the first colored pencil drawing, I could not decide how to do the background.  After looking at some online pictures - photographs as well as drawings - I decided to put the birds in a peach tree and surround them with abstract pink blossoms.  It looks awful, reminds me of Victorian cabbage rose wallpaper.  I am going to start a third version today, and regardless of how it turns out, I am going to give ALL of the renderings to my sister, including the bluejay.  

Want to know what the worst part of this is?  My sister's friend's son is an artist and a former art teacher.  He will critique my work.  He will probably give me an F.  ;)

But this adventure has been instructive.  If nothing else, I learned to how to paint cabbage rose wallpaper. 

I have decided to do the bluebirds with colored pencils, not watercolor.  This weekend, we are going to watch Granddaughter #1 at her equestrian event.  It will be a long road trip, so I may take my pencils and work on it in the car.  

* * * * * * * * 

You will not believe the story I am about to tell you, but it is 100% true.  Make of it what you will.  ;)

Lately, I've been moderately fixated on honeybees.  For years, I've worried about them, as a species, because if they struggle, we will, too.  I've been using them in my artwork, trying to learn to draw and paint and embroider them for different projects.  I plant flowers for them.  But, like the bluejays, I rarely get to see them up close and personal.  

Yesterday was a nice day, and so I propped the back porch screen doors open to let in some fresh air.  (The porch is wrapped in clear vinyl for the winter.)  As I was sitting here, surfing bluebird images, I heard a buzz and looked around to find a honeybee bouncing his way across the porch screens, trying to fly.  He bounced all the way around the porch, and when he got to the door near me, instead of flying out, he skipped the opening and resumed his bouncing on the screen about five feet from me.

I said, out loud, "I wish you'd be still so I could get a good look at you."  And he landed and went still.  I looked him over and said, "Ok, you can go now."  He started buzzing again, and turned around, and flew RIGHT AT MY FACE.  I leaned sideways, but he kept coming, and I waved my hand and said, out loud, "No!  Get out!" And he hovered for a second then zoomed right out the door, like he had known where it was all along.  

. . . . 

Ok, yes, I need to get out more.  ;)

Commission - February 1, 2024

I got my first "commission" Tuesday afternoon.  Don't get excited.  It was just my sister, asking me to paint something as a gift for her ex-mother-in-law.  She said her "e-m-i-l" likes bluebirds and cardinals, but really any kind of "regular" bird would do.  She did not specify a medium.

I decided to do a bluejay because they are colorful and funny and impressive with their bad selves.  We don't see many bluejays in our yard until it snows and we put out birdseed.  The bluejay suddenly comes out of nowhere and RULES the birdfeeder...until the woodpecker arrives.*  I cannot accurately draw any kind of bird "from my head," so I googled "bluejay" and found some images to use and was able to freehand a reasonably recognizable bluejay.  Because I could not decide what medium to use - watercolor, pen & ink, or colored pencils - I did a pencil sketch on 140# cold press watercolor paper, thinking it would work for anything I had.  

The plan was to mask out the bird, do a loose watercolor background, then put in the bird in detail.  Problem was, I couldn't decide what color the background needed to be until I did the bird.  Next thing I knew, I was coloring the bird with colored pencils.  And I like it, so far.  But it's all pastel-ish, and needs some color in the background.  And I'm scared I'll ruin it.

So I took a picture of the colored pencil drawing and sent it to my sister and asked her to help me decide whether to put in a background or leave it as is.  She was no help at all in that regard.  PLUS she said she thought I was going to do a bluebird or a cardinal.  

So.

I'ma do a bluebird.  

*For kicks, I just googled a bluejay call.  I'm on the back porch (yea, it's cold), and the neighborhood birds might have heard it, because suddenly they're all chattering.